Roman Republican Pottery from the Vicinity of Sutri (Sutrium)

Extract

In 1958, an archaeological field survey located a Roman pit 2¾ km. south-east of Sutri (at grid reference 737789 on the 1: 25,000 Carta d'ltalia, Istituto Geografico Militare, sheet ‘Sutri’) (fig. 1). The pit had been dug on the south side of a narrow spur, near its point, there only 2–3 m. high. Surface finds showed it to be full of black-glazed ware (ceramica campana) and other Roman pottery. In 1959 it was excavated, with the courteous permission of the Soprintendenza alle Antichità per l'Etruria Meridionale and of the local land-owner, Sig. Sansoni, and with the kind assistance of friends. This article deals mainly with its contents.

The excavation achieved its aim, to collect a comprehensive group of Republican pottery. The deposit could date from the last half of the second century B.C., but this is the earliest possible date and it may well fall entirely in the first century B.C.

The pit was roughly oval, just over 2 m. long and 1 m. deep as it survived (fig. 1). It had been enlarged, not long after it was initially dug, by an extension on the north side. Erosion since antiquity had then removed much of it and clandestine digging had disturbed its contents. This helps to explain why in no instance was any vessel recovered in its entirety.